I had the chance to test the SA-87 at my studio a few weeks ago against my Neumaunn U87ai and Neumann TLM 103 with a great singer through my 1073 preamps. The SA-87 I got from Stam Audio had the Heiserman capsule and a Sowter output transformer

I can honestly say I am very impressed with how this mic performs.

The first most obvious difference was that the Stam did not have that painful energy around the 3 to 5k area that I always try to cut on my 87ai, it sounded fuller in the low end and smoother in the top end which is in line with my experiences with a vintage 87 which is what the SA-87 is based on.

We did a few takes on all 3 mics and after processing both mics with the same EQ I liked it even more, it reacted beautifully to EQ and both me and my singer preferred the SA-87 on top of a 4 times more expensive U87ai!, quite a surprise.

The story with the TLM 103 was similar but even more drastic, at least on male vocals these two mics were in a different league, the SA-87 sounded bigger, with nicer mids and overall more expensive sounding than my TLM 103 which sounded thin and harsh in comparison.

I can seriously recommend this microphone. While there are other clones most of them have chinesse made capsules, I truly believe the capsule itself justifies the price difference from other similar offerings and the output transformer makes a nice impact on the low end as well. The mic sounds like the best vintage 87 I have heard and for only 790.00, it is a no brainer

This mic has a nice, warm and unique sound that most of new young producer or engineer hadn't has the chance to taste. The response of this mic gave you a great deal of low and mid low without taking the clarity and quality of the voice. Also, the mid range is not painfull. It's just right. And when you boost the high range, the voice get a fully, beautiful and smooth tone.

I have to say that StamAudio take this job to the next level and their job doesn't end until you get what you pay for. A vintage super cool mic.

I recommend the SA-87 for everyone that is looking for a new sound away from what we hear constantly. And StamAudio for everyone who take their sound as a very own one.

I received my 87 2 days ago. My first impression was as I have come to expect from Stam Audio. The build quality is superb! The mic feels solid right down to the quality click of the switches. It also comes in a sturdy aluminium case with a strong shock mount included.

Luckily we had a vocal session booked in so we could put the mic through it paces straight away. Our chain was SA87 - SA73 - SA2A - EQP wa - WA76. The first thing that jumped out was the clarity of the vocal, so much so that we removed the EQ from the chain and just used the HPF. There was plenty of richness in the low mids and a very smooth top end with no discernible harshness in the hi mids. All in all the vocal sounded wonderful. We are tracking acoustic guitars on Monday and I am really looking forward trying the SA87 on those. I also think it will perform exceptionally well as a mono room mic for drums. I'll keep you posted. AJM, Leith Recording Company.

I'm very happy with my pair of Stam 87's. These microphones are built like tanks. The microphones are gorgeous and surprisingly heavier than I thought they would be (in a good way). The switches and shockmounts are solid. The Stam 87 has a nice thick sound with really smooth mids and top end. The mics react really well when EQ'ed I've had a hard time finding a microphone that really compliments my voice until now. I used the stam 87 to record group back up vocals in blumlein which gave a fantastic stereo image. The heiserman capsule and sowter transformers separates this mic from other clones. I compared this to my friends warm 87 and he was disappointed with his purchase. The warm was not as full and had slightly harsh upper mids in comparison. I'm looking forward to the Stam 47 and fet. The wait is worth it folks!

I got a pair of SA87s and they far exceeded my expectations. This is the real deal, folks, and everything Joshua has made thus far has been amazing. Sounds like a vintage U87 that's been well maintained, what more can I say.

I am particularly pleased with the results of using this microphone on the vocal recordings of an artist that I have worked with for years using a Neumann TLM-103.

The TLM-103 always had real problems with her plosives and sibilants – falling apart in the 8 – 10K range. The SA-87 is warm and clean across the full spectrum, making her recordings so much easier to mix.

I recently purchased a Neumann U-47 for the studio, and everybody was gaga over this well known studio workhorse - so I just had to run a comparison of the two. I wound up liking the SA-87 on her voice better than the U-47 on pushy passages – exactly the opposite of what everyone expected.

The Stam SA-87 is the finest large condenser tube microphone I have had the opportunity to use and own. I purchased mine with the high quality Heiserman HK87 capsule. Like the Neumann U87, I will venture to say this microphone is able to capture just about anything well, especially most vocalists. So far I have had it for just two weeks and have only used it on my own (baritone) voice. I am using it with the Metric Halo ULN-2 (not early version) interface with built-in preamps.

The response of this mic is well balanced across the frequency spectrum. There are no problem frequencies that plague so many lesser mics. It has a goldilocks kind of balance between warmth and clarity. It has no harsh or peaky resonances to grate on your ears. The low end is full but not boomy. There is a nice lower midrange warmth, though it is not muddy. The mids are present, but not peaky, with very satisfying punchy dynamics if you feed it that. There is no harshness in the upper mids. The sibilance frequencies are just right, they don't poke out, but are still present and not at all lispy sounding. The high frequencies sound smooth, perhaps a bit subdued, and just fine to me. (However at those higher frequencies, my Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro headphones, as well as my own ears, become less reliable.) Unlike so many lesser mics, the Stam SA-87 is just not hyped anywhere. It's just well balanced across the entire spectrum.

It is also quite a forgiving microphone to use. While it seems to have a sweet spot for my own voice at around 3 inches from the grill to fine tune the proximity effect, it is not overbearing with me nearly kissing the grill. I have not needed to use a pop filter with this mic either. I don't perceive any funky grill or body resonances. I imagine this has to do with the beefy high quality design, large body diameter and geometry of the grill. This is a physically large and hefty microphone, which can only help inspire the talent. The large transformer I'm sure makes this a necessity.

So you may ask, are there any negatives or tradeoffs with this mic? Sure. The size and weight makes it less user friendly than smaller microphones such as the AKG P420, particularly when mounting on a boom unless it is exceptionally sturdy. Coming from a small shop in Chile, this can be classified as a boutique microphone, and made with the option of a $250 high end boutique capsule, it may take a month or so to receive the mic. If the Stam SA-87 is out of your budget and you can deal with a minor bit of upper midrange harshness, and you are also especially careful with proximity effect, the $200 AKG P420 may get you quite close to the sound of the Stam SA-87. However with the Stam SA-87, you are buying a superior product that is much more forgiving of placement and just simply "works". The Stam SA-87 is the kind of mic that gives you the confidence that, other considerations aside, it's just going to sound great no matter what.

All in all I am incredibly pleased with the sound, quality, aesthetics, and ease of use of this microphone, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for a fully professional-quality microphone. There is a reason the U87 has been considered the studio work-horse go-to microphone for so long. Recording my voice through the Stam SA-87 makes me realize the many reasons this is so. It is essentially a vintage style U87 -- same sound, usability, and build quality -- yet for a fraction of the price.

Ok, so I found out about Joshua and his biz like half a year ago... Searching for the best clones on the net and I must say that you don't have to look further! This is as good as it gets peeps!!!! I received my sa87 1 week ago and I immediately hooked it up to my isa two preamp - eqp-1 clone - apogee symphony mk2 and all I can say is WOW! I've tried vintage u67's, u87's etc etc and if you've tried them too you know what I mean when I say... MIDRANGE!!! The beautiful midrange Neumann capsules delivers is really hard to come close to BUT to be honest... The sa87 I've got right beside me at this very moment delivers the exact same midrange! It's crazy really... Did I just pay 999$ for this mic? I can't believe it!
Can't wait for the sa2a, sa76, sa47 and sa67 to be delivered! Great times to be alive

Stam were excellent with their customer support and speed of reply.
The mic arrived well packaged and in perfect condition.

First quick test showed it was functioning as expected and just plugging direct into a RME Fireface it sounded fantastic.

I cannot claim to be a vintage mic expert, and have no mics on hand of this calibre to shoot it out against, I'll leave that to the chaps who have already done so here, but what I can discern with the very small amount of time I have had to play with my new SA87 is this:

The physical build quality is superb.

It's heavy and the switches seem very solid.

The frequency response is beautiful and flat and suits my baritone voice very well.

It takes EQ like a champion.

There are no nasty, edgy highs, nor any wobbly low end to scour out.

...and the kicker....the price!!!
It is an amazing deal for what you get, which is essentially a brand new vintage U87...something I could never dream to own.

I can't see how you could possibly make a mistake by purchasing this mic.
I'd love to have two...but first, I'm looking to get the Stam 1073MPA.
I'm sure it will be amazing with the SA87...I can't wait.

Thanks to Joshua and the team at Stam Audio.
May they continue to bring these very well made and affordable mics and units into our community for a long time yet.
Hurrah!

...and yes...this is my first post here. I don't generally join sites, I just lurk and soak in the info, but in this case, I just had to join so I could add my voice to this positive chorus.

I second everything everyone says here about this mic. Sounds already mixed when tracking and has a beautiful balanced tone. It has a great full low end and smooth top end with a strong mid range. It's what everyone wants in a mic and works great on many different genres and sources. Feels solid and looks great which is important to me as well. Best of all is the price!

This is a review of the Stam SA-87. My background would be that of an
singer-songwriter/artist with pro audio engineering experience and I
used the SA-87 on one of my recent songs. The signal flow was SA-87,
Chameleon labs 7603 XMOD or UTA mpeq-1 and a Tube Tech Vocals- Let me start
with saying that the U87 never sounded good on my vocals. I have a U47
that matches my voice well but I wanted to try the SA-87 on my
background vocals in which I'm singing the higher harmonies. The SA-87
is the first 87ish mic that I actually sounded good thru. The midrange
is much more tamer than the other 87's. My U47 is still the clear
winner on my lead vocals but the SA-87 was perfect for my harmonies in
my upper range as when I mixed the song, the harmonies cut thru in a
pleasant sort of way.

Acoustic- I did 4
separate tracks using the SA-87, Royer 122, U47 and the AEA 88. The
U47 was the worst sounding, which surprised me but it was close
between the Royer 122 and SA-87. I ended up liking the Royer over the
Stam only because it had a little more body but I blended the Royer,
Stam & AEA and it created a brilliant sound.

Electric Guitar- I
used the SA-87, Royer 122 and Royer 10. I close miked with the Royers
and the SA-87 was at about 3 feet from the speakers. I didn't like the
Royer 122 as it was to thin for my taste. Maybe, I should have used it
as a distance mic? The Royer 10 sounded amazing as did the SA-87 so I
used that combo. There were times when I just used the Royer 10 but I
can't help to think how the SA-87 would have sounded at close micing.
Still impressing.

12 String
Bass- SA-87 far and Royer 10 close. Very impressed with the SA-87
here. A full bodied sound and great combo with the Royer 10.

Conclusion- As I said
earlier, I wasn't a fan of the 87ish microphones but I was very
impressed with the Stam SA-87. It seems to have nailed the old 87s and
then some. Definitely, not a one trick pony kind of mic and built like
a tank. Yes, you have to be patient and wait for your order but it's
worth the wait. My first intensions were to get this mic for a female
vocalist that I'm singing a duet with but with the versatility of the
SA-87, I had no idea what a bargain I was getting. Bravo Stam!!